ABSTRACT
Direct democracy, through initiatives and referenda, was seen by proponents
as a way to “diminish the impact of corrupt influences on the legislature,
undermine bossism, and induce legislators to be more attentive to public opinion and the broader public interest.”2 Spurred on by principles of Jeffersonian democracy, reform politics, nineteenth-century populism, and an inbred suspicion of big government, twenty-two states had adopted initiative and referendum mechanisms by 1915.
